Back to Natural Cotton Top
Cotton Top – White Egyptian
$5.00 – $20.43
100% Cotton.
Natural creamy-white Egyptian cotton, with a generous staple length of 1 to 1.5 inches. Apparently easy to spin. Combed top, super clean.
PRODUCT of EGYPT
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Sparkle-On Natural Snow
100% trilobal Nylon. We also label this as Sparkling White Icicle.
Extremely clean combed top, and very white but with a wonderful reflective sparkle. Staple length is about 3 to 4 inches, the fibre very fine. Absolutely wonderful for adding some glitter to any spin, and also a favourite of felters. Trilobal nylon is triangular in cross-section, rather than round. These flat surfaces are what cause it to reflect light and appear to sparkle. It is sold under various brand names, including Firestar™.
Though it works nicely in "natural" white, this dyes beautifully with acid dyes. In blends this is carded at around 5 to 20% by weight, and just a little bit does the trick.
Our "Sparkle-On™ Natural Snow" and "Nylon - Sparkling White Icicle" are cross-listed here together. The only difference is the size of the bags offered.
PRODUCT of ITALY
Northern Lights Ocean Waves
Combed 100% wool top/sliver. Space-dyed in deep teal, sky blue, black and rich sapphire.
PRODUCT of BELGIUM
Nylon – Fake Cashmere (Top)
100% Nylon.
Extremely clean combed top, possibly the whitest fibre we carry. Staple length is about 3 to 4 inches which makes this top-notch for blending with almost anything. Few would spin Nylon all by itself, but it has a great reputation for adding strength and durability to other fibres, especially when spinning yarns for socks. This is a fine grade that you won't even notice when blended in at a rate of 20 to 25% or so, by weight.
Surprisingly, Nylon dyes beautifully with acid dyes. It also takes natural dyes well using the usual premordant methods for protein fibres. We love the moniker of "Fake Cashmere", but your fingers will never confuse it from the real thing. It feels more like those puffs they stick inside pill bottles. Maybe it is.
Ramie (Top)
100% Ramie.
Very clean combed top, in pencil-roving width. Staple length is 7 to 8 inches. Ramie comes from the stem (bast) fibre of a tropical plant. Typically it is bleached to an almost pure white. Our supply is very fine and soft. Ramie can be spun by itself or used in blends. It's well-suited for lighter summer wear, from against-the-skin to outerwear. An intriguing fibre for those that can't wear wool. <
Since this is a plant or cellulose fibre dyers must use fibre reactive dyes. Natural dyers can resort to techniques used on cotton, such as alum-tannin premordanting, or Aluminum acetate. We don't know how Ramie responds in an indigo vat.
That being said, when blended with protein fibres, acid dyes will leave the ramie alone during dyeing, which makes for some wonderful streaky or heathered effects, depending on how well the fibres are blended.